CPS team helps parents of special-needs kids

By Anita Hassan |
April 7, 2012

Christina Craig lifts a foster child for her aunt, Cora Brown, as they prepare the child for bed. With four special-
needs children in her home, Brown knows well the struggles parents can face.

Photo By Melissa Phillip

Christina Craig, left, watches last week as her aunt, Cora Brown, gets a hug and kiss from her adopted son, Alex Brown. Cora Brown's three foster children and Alex all have special needs. Two use wheelchairs.

Photo By Karen Warren

Brittany Crawford holds her daughter Saniyah, 4, who finished chemotherapy and has a good prognosis despite partial blindness. Her case was assigned to an eight-member CPS team that evaluates and monitors medically fragile children.

Each week for eight months, Brittany Crawford sat beside her daughter's hospital bed as doctors pierced the girl's tiny body with needles. Saniyah, 2 at the time, required weekly chemotherapy treatments after being diagnosed with optic nerve glioma, a condition caused by tumors growing in the brain, affecting her vision.

Crawford, 24, held Saniyah's hand during the treatments, barely able to watch as the child squirmed and cried from the pain.

It came as a shock when a Child Protective Services caseworker knocked on Crawford's door about a year and a half ago, and learned that she was being investigated for allegations of neglecting Saniyah.

Crawford admits her life was in turmoil. She and Saniyah's father had separated and she'd been compelled to move back in with her mother, where she shared a car with at least six other people. Between attending classes full-time, caring for two other young children and losing the support of her fiancé, she acknowledged that she did not take Saniyah to chemotherapy for about a month.

Medical files reviewed

"Of course I felt like I should have kept going," Crawford said. "For one thing, we wouldn't be involved with CPS, and also, maybe the medical procedure would have taken a stronger effect."

CPS did not see Crawford's neglect as serious enough to justify taking her daughter into custody. The case was assigned instead to the agency's medically fragile review team, a panel of medical professionals and social workers who evaluate cases of children facing special medical challenges.

The eight-person team was created in August 2010 in response to a growing number of situations involving special-needs children. The team meets monthly to determine whether signs of abuse and neglect exist, and their severity, and to make the best recommendations for the family. The panel has evaluated cases involving children with cerebral palsy and obesity, among other problems.

Many CPS caseworkers lack the expertise to distinguish between suffering caused by abuse or neglect and symptoms of a medical condition, said Sandra Haire, CPS program administrator over the medically fragile review team.

Social workers, she said, aren't trained to know whether parents are properly using sophisticated medical equipment that their child may need, a benefit to having the team review the cases.

In Saniyah's case, Crawford she said her daughter, who turned 4 in February, was already back in treatment when CPS began its investigation. Crawford's caseworker recommended Crawford and her fiancé, with whom she had reconciled, undergo counseling to help cope with their child's condition.

The counseling has helped the couple communicate, Crawford said.

"It may not seem or feel like you need it," she said of counseling. "But it's still good to have it."

Emotional, physical toll

Most cases the team reviews are those where abuse or neglect is not severe enough to justify taking the child into CPS custody, Haire said.

"These are the cases where we feel like if we go in there and intervene and get some services for them and some support, that they can learn to deal with this medically fragile child," she said. The evaluations also help to educate caseworkers about children with special needs, Haire said.

Caring for such youngsters requires exceptional attention, and the responsibility can take an emotional and physical toll on the parents.

Cora Brown knows the struggles of dealing with special-needs children well. Along with her adopted son Alex, 18, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy as a result of fetal alcohol syndrome, the 70-year-old Brown is a foster mother to three other special-needs children. Two require wheelchairs.

Mornings in the Brown household involve tube feedings, respiratory care and oxygen checks - all while getting the children ready for school. Although she feels blessed, Brown knows the hardship that many biological parents with such children endure.

"I know how hard it is for these families," she said. "I've walked a mile in their shoes."

But Brown said she could not have done it on her own. Friends and family have helped.

"It takes a village to raise a child," she said. "It takes a whole community to address the needs of a special-needs child."

Keeping families intact

Rebecca Butler, a program specialist on the medically fragile team, said services offered to families can include showing them where to get personal care services, providing transportation for hospital visits, and helping parents get in touch with advocacy groups.

"Really," Butler said, "it's about just keeping the family together and not really having to become involved with CPS again."

Saniyah has finished her chemotherapy treatments, and doctors say her prognosis is good as long as the tumors do not grow. Despite being partially blind, she is a happy and boisterous toddler. Her family now lives in west Houston, close to the Texas Children's Hospital west campus, making the drive to doctor's appointments only a short one.

Crawford is overjoyed to have her daughter healthy and with her, and to watch her grow every day. Their case with CPS was closed last year.